Madam Catherene Abelema Afeku, New Patriotic Party (NPP) sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for the Evalue-Ajomoro-Dwira Constituency with the capital as Axim in the Western Region has lost the seat to Mr Kofi Arko Nokoe of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Madam Afeku who is a former Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Art and now at the Presidency polled 17,287 votes as her closest contender Mr Kofi Arko Nokoe of the NDC polled 19,820 votes, while Mr Elisha Joshua Kabenla of GUM polled 1,145 votes and Mr Assuman Frank Afful of NDP had 90 votes.
The total vote cast was 39,004 with 37,774 as valid votes while 662 were rejected.
Political career
Afeku entered Ghanaian politics in the early 2000s during the presidency of John Agyekum Kufuor where she became Government Spokesperson for infrastructure.
She contested in the 2008 general elections for the then Evalue Gwira Constituency and defeated the incumbent, Kojo Armah of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), by obtaining 11,671 votes.
In the 5th Parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana, she first served as a Member of the Road and Transport Committee and then as a Deputy Ranking Member of the Communications Committee and later became a Member of the Business Committee of Parliament.
She lost her re-election bid for parliament in the 2012 general election and again contested the seat during the 2016 Parliamentary election, where she defeated the incumbent, Kweku Tanikyi Kesse of the NDC, obtaining 11,641 votes out of the 20,179, representing 57.7% of total votes cast.
Minister of Tourism
In January 2017, President Akuffo-Addo nominated Afeku for the position of Minister for Tourism. As tourism minister, she has embarked on several trips to market the country’s tourist attractions and potential.
In March 2017, she travelled to The People’s Republic of China, where she held meetings with investors and exhibitors to showcase tourist sites and the arts and culture of Ghana.
Vetting controversy
Her vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament was held on 6 February 2017. During the vetting process, members of the minority argued that approval should not be given because she had not done the one-year mandatory National Service.
Her defense for not honouring her constitutional obligation was due to her being in Nairobi, Kenya, with her parents at the stipulated time. Her nomination was approved on 11 February 2017 after she presented the Appointments Committee with a waiver letter given her by the National Service Secretariat. The approval was by consensus.
Prior to the elections, the Western Region branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) strongly condemned the manhandling of the regional cameraman for Metro TV, Alhaji Mustapha Ashley by her bodyguard.
The GJA also bemused that video footage of the Court premises, were deleted from Mustapha Ashley’s camera “under supervision of a police” at his blindside.
The incident led to the boycott of all her programs by the members of the video production and TV editors for failing to accept the melee and the call by the GJA on her to apologize.
The members, during one of President Akufo-Addo’s working visits to the Constituency demonstrated their displeasure on her conduct by removing their tripods and microphones when she mounted the platform to speak to the constituents.
However, the rivalry was believed to have been resolved even though some of the members were not satisfied with the resolution.
Story: Seth Ameyaw Danquah
